Canada’s tar sands are the biggest energy project in the world, currently producing 1.5 million barrels of oil a day. Largely located in Alberta, the tar sands deposits are distributed over an area of 140,000 km² – an area larger than England. Canada has the third largest oil reserves in the world, after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, and is the biggest supplier of oil to the US, the world’s largest oil consumer. Tar sands deposits also exist outside of Canada.

What’s the problem?

Already, millions of barrels of tar sands oil have been extracted from under the Canadian wilderness, producing three to five times as many greenhouse gas emissions as conventional oil extraction and using enough natural gas every day to heat 3.2 million Canadian homes. Add to this the mass deforestation the project is causing and it becomes clear that the tar sands must be shut down if we are serious about tackling disastrous climate change. In fact, leading climate scientist James Hansen has stated that runaway climate change will be almost inevitable if tar sands extraction is allowed to continue. Unsurprisingly, tar sands development has been labelled “the Most Destructive Project on Earth“.

The effects of the Alberta tar sands on local First Nations communities are devastating. Tar sands developments have created toxic tailings ponds so huge they are visible from space, which leak poisons into the local water supply. Indigenous treaties are being violated and livelihoods and futures are being destroyed. Communities on land where tar sands extraction has been imposed are experiencing disturbingly high rates of rare forms of cancer and auto-immune diseases.

Tailings pond north of Syncrude. Photo by David Dodge, Pembina Institute

 

What does this have to do with the UK?

Although very little tar sands oil is currently flowing through UK petrol pumps, large amounts of investment is coming from UK banks and corporations. Shell is already heavily involved, and BP has recently announced its entry into tar sands extraction via the Sunrise project. The Royal Bank of Scotland is the world’s 7th largest investor, using taxpayers’ money to fund climate disaster. HSBC and Barclays are also major financers. The UK’s involvement has been analysed in detail by Platform and Greenpeace.

More FAQs » But don’t we need oil? | So what are all these alternatives? | Aren’t tar sands good for Canada’s economy? | Can’t we make the tar sands more environmentally-friendly? | Isn’t tar sands more ethical than Saudi Arabian oil?

How can we stop the tar sands?

• Leave the oil in the ground: every barrel of tar sands oil extracted is doing damage. Rather than letting governments and oil companies make weak promises about how they will improve the environmental footprint of their tar sands extraction, we need a complete moratorium on new tar sands projects, and a commitment to shut down existing ones.
• Reduce the market for oil: the introduction of energy efficiency measures, behavioural change, carbon taxes, and government legislation like the Fuel Quality Directive will have the combined effect of making tar sands extraction more expensive and less attractive for oil companies. Current battles against the Keystone XL and Enbridge pipelines are also making it harder for tar sands to be exported. Without expanding export markets tar sands production won’t be able to triple as planned.
• Cut off the funding: a lot of these companies are financed by European banks, the most prominent in the UK being the 83%-taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland. Additionally, banks can be targeted to ensure minimum standards are met. For instance, the Royal Bank of Canada has been pressured into adopting an indigenous rights policy, meaning it will not lease money to companies unless Free, Prior and Informed Consent is obtained from communities before projects begin (though it is not clear, of course, how well this will play out in practice…)
• Change the framing of the debate: oil companies might get some bad press when things go wrong, but for the most part people are largely accepting of their right to operate as they like. As we start holding oil companies to account for their narrow-minded focus on extracting the last drop and refusing to embrace the reality of climate change, the oil industry will start to be seen for what it is. One step is to prevent oil companies from associating themselves with positive public endeavours like Britain’s cultural institutions and the Olympics.
• Join the resistance: a lot of the communities in areas near oil developments lack support to fight against large companies, yet often have the most power to stop projects before they take off. We can help by working in solidarity with affected groups around the world, amplifying their voices, and supporting their campaigns, demands and lawsuits.
• Make it illegal!: If a new international law of ‘ecocide’ is adopted by the UN, CEOs of tar sands companies could be tried and charged under international criminal law for crimes against peace.

How can I help?

See how you can get involved. Whatever your time constraints and commitments, there is probably some way you can help out.

Further Information

On our resources page we outline the detailed briefings we have produced on:

• the impacts of tar sands companies: BP, Shell and Total
• the involvement of tar sands financer RBS
• the role of Europe in encouraging tar sands trade (CETA)
• the effects of tar sands on Indigenous Rights
• tar sands outside of Canada

External links:

• http://oilsandstruth.org/ (“oilsandstruth.org exists to disseminate information regarding the environmental, social and economic impacts of tar sands development projects being proposed and currently in progress. Oilsandstruth.org holds the view that nothing short of a full shut down of all related projects in all corners of North America can realistically tackle climate change and environmental devastation.”)
• http://tarsandswatch.org/ (a project of the Polaris Institute, a Canadian think tank “designed to enable citizen movements to act for democratic social change on major public policy issues in an age of corporate driven globalization.”)
• http://oilsandswatch.org/ (a project of the Pembina Institute, a not-for-profit think tank aiming “to advance sustainable energy solutions through innovative research, education, consulting and advocacy.”)
• http://dirtyoilsands.org/ (“an international network of citizen and indiegnous groups that oppose the expansions of the Canadian tar sands and advocate for its cleanup.”)

• and the special issue of the New Internationalist:
  • ‘Taking on Tarmageddon’ The tar sands are the most destructive project on earth – and the campaign to shut them down is gathering momentum.
  • ‘Canada’s curse’ The zealous pursuit of dirty oil is transforming Canada into a corrupt petro-state.
  • ‘I’ll die doing this’ Indigenous people are getting ill as a result of tar sands pollution.
  • ‘Rock that Burns’ When they hear ‘tar sands’, most people think ‘Canada’. But companies are eyeing up dirty oil deposits all over the world.